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Frank Perry - Deep Peace / New Atlantis (1992)

Pausts

For the first time, Deep Peace and New Atlantis, two classics from Celestial Harmonies, are available on CD. Originally recorded in 1980 and 1983, these meditative masterpieces have long been recognized as remarkable and meaningful works.

Frank Perry employs a fascinating array of acoustic instruments, including 400 year old Zen Buddhist Densho bells and a Ming Dynasty Chinese temple bell. He adds various kyeezees (Burmese meditation gongs), Burmese chime bowls, other glass bowls, Tibetan invocation cymbals and meditation cymbals, plus a variety of bells from Tibet, India, Japan and China. He uses no electronics whatsoever in his recordings; the long reverberations are the natural effect of the percussion instruments he uses.

"Bells and gongs are representative of some of the most spiritual music," says Perry. He is a master of his art form, understanding how each gong produces its fundamental tone, harmonics and sub–tones. He carefully blends to create the specific meditative mood he desires. "Admittedly, percussion is not a field of instrumentation or sound–source most usually associated with meditational music, but I have spent half of my life refining the potential usages and overcoming the initial restrictions imposed by this musical medium of percussion."

Few artists are as spiritually sincere and philosophically dedicated as Frank Perry. "For the maintenance of well–being, each one of us is in need of a constant attunement or alignment with that deep peace at the center of all life. This music is designed to provide a means, a bridge, towards this condition."

Perry has been perfecting his musical skills as he has been perfecting his spiritual skills for the past several decades. In fact, the two aspects are fused in his life. He is a student of numerology and cosmology, and an ardent reader of varied theological and philosophical works. The knowledge he gains from these studies, he incorporates into his pieces to share with others. "This music centers one's energy through concentration within sound, thus forming a bridge between past and future, or between the visible and invisible realms of Life." (harmonies)